Blake Strode

Recovering athlete. Aspiring abolitionist. I play a lawyer on TV. @archcitydefense is my home.

[Blake Strode @BlakeStrode1]

Police murder. Then lie. Then are exposed. We mourn. Protest. Demand change. Protests are demonized. Then co-opted. Then ignored.

Rinse, wash, repeat.

This is learned helplessness. Unlearn it. There are people organizing to defund and abolish policing near you. Find them.

[Blake Strode @BlakeStrode1]

Yesterday was a beautiful display of the community that emerged from tragedy in Ferguson a decade ago. My hope with this piece was to do justice to that community. All love to Mike Brown's family and thanks @BostonReview for publishing.
https://t.co/QLwsLFOXY3

[Blake Strode @BlakeStrode1]

Don't be fooled. We stand with @CoriBush like she has stood with us.

[Blake Strode @BlakeStrode1]

@iKaylaReed

[Blake Strode @BlakeStrode1]

We're in the 3-4 Power Hour for another 20 minutes! Help us get as many donors as possible this hour for bonus prizes, please and thank you!!❤️

[ArchCity Defenders @ArchCityDefense]

Donate now to our 3-4pm POWER HOUR! Your donations, up to $5,000 will be matched, so double your donation now! Also, the charity with the most individuals donating during this hour will win a portion of $10,000! So every donation counts.

Donate: https://t.co/11mncbc4Pp

[Blake Strode @BlakeStrode1]

They were right on Jim Crow. They were right on Vietnam. They were right on apartheid. They were right on Iraq. They were right in Orlando & Ferguson & Louisville & Minneapolis.

They're right now, too. And no amount of condescension or brute force will change that basic truth.

[Blake Strode @BlakeStrode1]

Listen to the young people. They are usually right in these moments. Especially on matters of conscience. Their moral compasses haven't yet been manipulated or beaten down beyond all usefulness.

[Blake Strode @BlakeStrode1]

I didn't realize anyone was still taking this process seriously. Or pretending to.
https://t.co/jT15886AmZ

[Blake Strode @BlakeStrode1]

Also there's an *actual* movement meeting tonight! You're invited!

https://t.co/U3AE689DXO

[Defund. Re-envision. Transform. @DefundSLMPD]

📢Join us THIS Thursday, April 4th from 6pm - 8pm CT for STL City Budget Training! 💰

Learn about how and where your tax dollars are allocated at this April’s Movement meeting. 🤔

Continue reading for more..

[Blake Strode @BlakeStrode1]

On this day in STL I want everybody to know that if you haven't experienced @InezBordeaux holding court at the board of aldermen and turning a hearing room into a movement meeting, then you haven't really lived.

[Blake Strode @BlakeStrode1]

ICYMI we are up & running in season 5 of @underthearchpod. Please do yourself a favor & check out this amazing convo w/ Dara Eskridge from @Invest_STL!! She joins @iKaylaReed & I to talk community/economic development, neighborhood planning, NGA, Black joy & more! Such a treat

[Under The Arch Podcast @underthearchpod]

Dara Eskridge with @Invest_STL walks us through the good, the bad, and the ugly of community development in #STL. Hear how Invest STL works with residents to reflect the changes they want to see in their neighborhoods.

[CloseTheWorkhouse @CLOSEWorkhouse]

STL, you spoke, and we heard you. What the people want to happen to the former Workhouse and land is OUT now. And, #ClosetheWorkhouse is back with these demands! It's not over until it's over. #closetheworkhouse #blacklivesmatter #forthepeople

[Blake Strode @BlakeStrode1]

Please read this beautiful report! So grateful for the care and intentionality that went into producing it.

[CloseTheWorkhouse @CLOSEWorkhouse]

Hey y'all. There's a report recommending what should become of the Workhouse & land around it. We're grateful for all of the public input that shapes this vision. We invite you to read, share and keep dreaming and demanding with us. #aftertheworkhouse https://t.co/hpoBKutvPN

[Blake Strode @BlakeStrode1]

Wow. They should be embarrassed. But we should be even more embarrassed that we keep giving them more money and power anyway.

[Defund. Re-envision. Transform. @DefundSLMPD]

This string of (4+) police crashes makes us laugh at SLMPD's incompetence, but when you consider that 1/3 of our taxpayer dollars go to funding these clowns, it feels less like a joke and more like robbery. 🙃

That being said, this tomfoolery would make for great primetime TV 👀

[Blake Strode @BlakeStrode1]

Please support my beloved @ArchCityDefense this #GivingTuesday. Your gifts help to make our work possible. And this year your donations are matched up to $15k!

[ArchCity Defenders @ArchCityDefense]

This #GivingTuesday, you can help us secure a $15k match and raise $30k! Your support helps our clients get back on their feet after many challenging setbacks. Here’s what your support has meant to our client Tranell: https://t.co/gBuoNjT8Kb

[Blake Strode @BlakeStrode1]

James Baldwin on the student movement in his 1960 essay "They Can't Turn Back." Worth revisiting in light of the current panic about student activism.

"The question with which [the students] present the nation is whether or not we really want to be free."

[Blake Strode @BlakeStrode1]

Like many, I've struggled with precisely what to say & how to say it, but I know that love, peace & JUSTICE must be at the center. And I'm grateful to be part of an organization whose values & vision provide a powerful guide.

Grateful to those leading the calls for a ceasefire.

[ArchCity Defenders @ArchCityDefense]

How does an organization like ArchCity Defenders, committed to principles of love and justice, respond in the face of bloodshed, loss, and escalating horror halfway across the globe?

[Blake Strode @BlakeStrode1]

Beautiful breakdown @JakeLovesSTL_ . We've seen so much apathy and hostility to unhoused folks, and a lack of political courage.

If you're free tomorrow night, no better time to show your support!

[Jake Lyin’ Fields @JakeLovesSTL_]

Your primer on Alder Sonnier's three bills supporting unhoused folks, which will be heard at tomorrow night's Nov 1st HUDZ committee meeting:

1. The three bills are BB126, BB127, & BB128.

2. The unhoused crisis has ballooned in our city. 20% of SLPS students are unhoused.

[People's Plan STL @PeoplesPlanSTL]

A letter from The People's Plan Coalition on Encampment Sweeps and the Unhoused Bill of Rights.

[ArchCity Defenders @ArchCityDefense]

“Justice is being served to people like me who really couldn’t get out because they couldn’t pay,” Donya Pierce told @stltoday.

Read more about our $3.125 million debtors' prison settlement with St. Ann here: https://t.co/fvSHOIKV0i

[Blake Strode @BlakeStrode1]

@sierramar98 @DrAPearson Sir, I don't know you & vice versa. I'm responding bc I assume you're being sincere. Please know that I'm fully aware of the context. You've never seen me blame the mayor for the persistence of homelessness. But the statements about Monday night are unfair and inaccurate.

[Blake Strode @BlakeStrode1]

This saddens me. What I saw was ppl who showed up Monday out of care & concern for human beings.

And what I personally heard from DHS head @DrAPearson that night was that the city did NOT have beds for everyone. I appreciated his honesty. But this rewriting of history is not ok.

[Brian Munoz @brianmmunoz]

St. Louis Mayor @Tishaura Jones responded to pushback related to the clearing of an encampment in front of City Hall.

She claims some activists harassed city workers trying to connect those experiencing homelessness with services.

Audio credit: @stlpublicradio's @JonathanAhl.